Margie Clayman

I’ve been thinking about the online “comment” of late. In reality, or so my theory goes, the comment is really at the core of what social media is all about. You write a blog post, someone leaves a comment, you comment back. You tweet something, someone tweets back a comment, you tweet back a comment in response. Commenting, it seems to me, is the key to everything we do in the online world, or at least it would seem to be the key to Web 2.0 at the very least. One might say that “conversing” and “commenting” are synonymous in the online world. It’s all about the trade-off of ideas and opinions. This all seems pretty basic, right?

And yet, I seem to be encountering more and more often scenarios that undermine this “basic” aspect of social media. I wanted to run these by you and see if you’re noticing the same things.

When I get tired of leaving blog comments

As a blogger, I do my very best to answer every single comment I get, even if it’s just a one-liner. I don’t always succeed, but I think if you come here you know the chances are pretty good you’ll get a comment in reply. I work hard on that because I know how busy people are these days. The fact that you not only read what I say but also take the time to comment means a lot to me. Really. I figure the best way I can show that is to reciprocate.

As a blog reader, I don’t comment nearly as much as I used to, but I’ve never really been one to leave a “nice post” comment. When I read something and I’m spurred on to leave a comment, I take time out of *my* busy schedule to leave my thoughts there. Now, a lot of the bloggers I read are really good about commenting back, and they have great communities to show for it. In fact, entire conversations develop just among the blogger and his or her commenters.

There are some bloggers, though, that never seem to respond to anything. In fact, these folks often only reply to “troll” type comments, which makes you almost wonder if that’s the kind of comment they want. I love the way these folks write, but after leaving several comments and never getting a response back, I find myself kind of wondering if I should continue to spend my time talking to, well, myself. I like to leave comments not just to see my words on someone else’s page but rather because I enjoy the dialog. If the blogger doesn’t have that same desire, I’m apt to go elsewhere. Eventually. That’s a bummer.

Commenting on Facebook

I inadvertently started a little debate on Facebook over the weekend, so I thought I would spread the chaos into the blogosphere as well. As is the case with blogging, I feel that the most fun part of leaving a comment on Facebook is engaging in a conversation (I know, these 2 buzz words are becoming evil in the online world, but I mean them in their most unbuzzy forms). If someone updates Facebook with something interesting, I tend to scan all of the comments first, then I leave my own. Or maybe I don’t leave my own if it looks like the conversation is getting ugly. But I really enjoy commenting not just on the update but also on what other people have said. I have met a lot of great people that way, in fact – they were “friends” of the person who had updated the status initially, but through regular conversing, we got to know each other as well.

I’ve found, however, that a lot of people look at Facebook commenting as a sort of “drive by opinion” opportunity. They see an update, they want to get their opinion out there, and then they move on to the next thing. There are a few (in my view) disadvantages to this approach.

1. Someone may have already said what you wanted to say, in which case you are really highlighting the fact that you didn’t read anything else apart from the update.

2. Someone may have added a perspective that would alter your opinion

3. Someone may have said something like, “This conversation is a sore subject because xyz, can we take this offline?” in which case your comment may appear insensitive.

4. If you are vehemently for or against the initial update and voice that opinion, you could end up looking like a sour-puss if it turns out the person changed their mind in the middle of the comment thread.

It’s not to say that this approach is wrong, but it just seems (to me) to miss the whole idea of what social media is about. If you just want to get your opinion out there, why not go back to traditional marketing, where there is a lot more time between your “update” and people responding? If you’re participating on a social media platform, wouldn’t you hedge towards being, I don’t know, more social?

So what do you think? Am I being too picky? Am I taking the word “social” too literally? What are you finding out there?

I’ve written a new e-book called The ABCs of Marketing Myths. You can read about it here!

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmasphere/20993325/ via Creative Commons

Now available at the Kindle Store!! Just click -> HERE! 

Hello! I am VERY excited to announce that I have self-published an official e-book! As you can see above, it’s called The ABCs of Marketing: Rumors and Lies the Online World Has Spread about the Ancient Art of Marketing (you can click here to preview the first 15 pages or to purchase. See below for important information regarding the e-book).

If you have been to this blog on a semi-regular basis over the last year or so, you may have seen some portions of this book already. I published letters A-Q here on the blog, although they have all been slightly modified for the book. Letters R-Z are only available in the book, however.

So what is this book about? Well, with one of my feet in the more “traditional” marketing world and the other of my feet in the online world, I have a sort of unique opportunity see both sides talk about the other. There are certainly plenty of people who still don’t really “get” social media. But it’s been interesting to see how the online world has begun talking about many core principles of marketing. Indeed, some online personalities have gone so far as to declare marketing dead (along with everything else). This kind of statement has always struck me as being rather over the top, but just saying that doesn’t really create a solid basis for conversation. And conversation is what I think marketers online and offline need. Too many people are painting with brushes that are too broad. “Agencies are bad.” “Email marketing is easy.” We need to talk about these things in productive ways for the betterment of companies operating in this crazy world.

I’m really hoping that people who read this book will start asking their own questions. I hope this inspires some more useful, helpful conversation than what seems to be the norm these days. I hope it helps people who are getting messages from the online world that might not jive with their offline experiences.

If you are interesting in purchasing this book, there are a few things I want you to know.

As of now, the book is only available for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad). The book is also only available on Blurb. If things go well I will look into moving the book into a more readily accessible platform.

If you want to purchase the book, click here.

Please ignore the option for the print version. Blurb just requires that you have that option present. 

Here are detailed instructions on how to download the book once you purchase it:

Download using either your (1) iPhone/iPad or (2) your Mac/PC:

1. Your iPad or iPhone:
   • In Safari go to Blurb.com, sign in to your account, and then go to the book details page for your book.
   • On the right-hand side find the button that says Get ebook for iPad, iPhone, iPod.
   • Choose Download for iTunes from the drop down. (A progress bar will appear at the top of the screen).
   • After the file downloads choose “Open in iBooks” to open the file. Getting an error message? Make sure you have iBooks first!
2. A Mac or PC:
•  Go to the book details page for your book.
• On the right-hand side click Get ebook for iPad, iPhone, iPod.
• Use any of the four options to load your ebook
• Text message – Open this message on your iPhone and tap the link. After the file downloads choose “Open in iBooks” to open the file.
• Email – Open this email in the iPad mail client and click the link. After the file downloads choose “Open in iBooks” to open the file.
• QR code – Use a QR reader to open the link. After the file downloads choose “Open in iBooks” to open the file.
• Download for iTunes – Click this to download your ebook to your computer to manually add to your iTunes library.

We’re going to fast-forward a bit through the Medici Popes (they had a LOT of issues, not the least of which was that Martin Luther took issue with them selling indulgences). In fact, we’re going to jump all the way to the middle of the 1500s (or there-abouts). The Medicis had pretty much been kicked out of Florence. After the run of Medici Popes and their attacks on the people of Tuscany, nobody was really a great Medici fan. In fact, the last legitimate Florentine Medici heir, Alessandro, was killed. Oddly enough, though, the Florentines thought it would be good to bring in another Medici to control the city – a Medici they could easily control. Good name, bad brain. Kind of like the plot of Zoolander.

Nobody really thought that the new Duke, Cosimo de’ Medici, would amount to much. They figured he would be a figurehead. Boy did they get that wrong. Whether it was innate skill, a brush of luck, the power of paranoia, or a combination of all of the above, Cosimo proved to be a pretty darned adept leader. Named Head of the Florentine State in 1537, by 1569 Cosimo had helped Charles V with his wars, had defeated his own enemies, and had also brought Sienna to its knees. He was named Grand Duke of Tuscany and his fame and triumphs ensured that the Medicis would stay in power all the way until 1737. Not too shabby, huh?

Who, me?

In the online world, one of the greatest things that can happen is for you to be considered an underdog. I truly believe that. Now, make no mistake. Just like Cosimo, you have to be willing to put a lot of work in. A lot of work. But until you get named Grand Duke of Social Media, being an online underdog can enable you to do a lot of things. This is something I know a bit about. See, while I’ve been going about my business, doing my own thing, a few great things have happened.

1. I’ve been able to hone my blogging style, experiment a lot, see what works and what doesn’t, and not have it all happen in the spotlight

2. I’ve been able to develop a lot of great connections/friendships with people. This would have been a lot harder if I had been greeted like LeBron James, flooded by the masses

3. I’ve been able to formulate my own opinions without having to worry about whether these evolutions in my brains will affect whatever part of my social media world I might be worried about

While I am certainly no Grand Duke, I know that I have gotten a chance to improve a lot over the last two years because I was just able to focus on my work. No one placed any expectations on me. There was no pressure but what I put on myself. It’s a pretty good path to take, or at least it has been for me.

Take the challenge

One other lesson can be garnered from Duke Cosimo. He could have gotten really bummed out that he was brought in to be, essentially, a puppet. I mean, that would bum anybody out, right? But he didn’t go into Florence a defeated man. He went into Florence a driven man. If someone treats you like you’re an underdog, accept the challenge. Don’t view it as a put-down, view it as a shot of adrenaline. Prove that you’re anything but an underdog. Prove them wrong. It’s a great motivator! If you’re into that sort of thing.

Again, all of this takes a lot of hard work. In say, 1545, Cosimo probably did not imagine that he would become Grand Duke of Tuscany. He still had a whopping 14 years to go. But he got there. Oh, also, he killed a few relatives, which I recommend you stray away from. Anyway, if you put in the time, if you work really hard, and if you stay on your own path, being called an underdog can be an invitation to excel, not a downer.

Don’t you think?

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78998728@N07/7246913292/ via Creative Commons

As we talked about in the last post in this series, Lorenzo the Magnificent had a pretty sad ending to his life, thanks in part to a kind of crazy guy named Girolamo Savonarola. Savonarola was a Dominican priest who came to Florence and swiftly became deeply disenchanted with Florentine society. Much of this bad feeling was directed to Lorenzo, who was commissioning and supporting works by artists like Botticelli.

Wait, Botticelli? But he’s considered one of the great Renaissance masters! How could anyone have a problem with Botticelli’s works?

Well, up until the Renaissance, art had mostly focused on the story of Jesus. Something sacred or holy tended to be the focal point. Botticelli could do that kind of work, but under the wing of Lorenzo, he started doing things like this:

What’s the problem with this beautiful painting? Well, the subject of the painting is Venus, goddess of beauty. To guys like Savanarola, these kinds of paintings symbolized a turning away from the religious world in favor of the “Pagan” world.

Of course, paintings weren’t the only things that bothered Savanarola. Lorenzo’s big palace and huge parties influenced Florentines to care a little bit more about things like appearance and other “worldly” ideas and concepts. To Savanarola, these were all signs that Florence was becoming a hell on earth, and Lorenzo de Medici was leading the way.

From Lorenzo’s point of view, and indeed from the point of view of many who view the works of Botticelli today, Lorenzo had not commissioned a bunch of rabble rousers. He had commissioned a societal revolution.

Revolutions almost always yield counter-revolutions

Humans are kind of predictable, especially once you start reading history books. Wherever there is a revolution, a counter-revolution is almost always sure to follow. The revolution that Lorenzo created in Florence led to a very different kind of revolution led by Savanarola. With his Jeremiads about how everyone was going to hell, Savanarola convinced Florentines that they had been led astray from the path of goodness. What followed is what is now referred to as the Bonfire of the Vanities. Jewels, make-up, books, and paintings were thrown into a great fire. Even Botticelli threw many of his own paintings into the fire, fearing for his soul. Heck, even Lorenzo threw some stuff into the fire.

Revolutions and Counter-Revolutions in the Online World

It’s easy to get excited about a growing amount of success in the online world. Your hard work is paying off. Those months and months of no responses are finally yielding to great conversations, more followers, and a more lively community. However, this revolution (or evolution) in your online world, just like any revolution, can lead to a counter-revolution. Just like Lorenzo the Magnificent, you might find that the more power you have, the more prominent you become, the more you attract people who vehemently disagree with what you are saying and doing. They might take issue with how you recommend people navigate the online waters. They might take issue with things you think can’t possibly be argued with, like the tonality of your tweets or that link you chose to post to your Facebook page. If you’re really unfortunate, your opposition, like Savanarola, might play upon the anxieties and fears of those in your community and they all might turn against you. Chances of a bonfire are hopefully pretty slim, but you can end up feeling pretty beaten down in these kinds of scenarios.

You might even find yourself rethinking everything you’ve done, wondering if you really were leading people astray. Does your opposition have a point?

The Potential Counter-Revolution

Beyond the individual level, there is also the chance that another counter-revolution is brewing, but on a much wider scale. You probably remember the viral video from a couple of years ago that talked about the Social Media Revolution that was changing everything. Well, guess what? A bit of time has passed, and people are starting to mutter a little bit about missing face-to-face meetings. People are wondering just how deep these online connections go. People are starting to miss seeing facial expressions and hearing vocal intonations.

Could we be heading towards a Social Media Counter-Revolution that would be as revolutionary as the revolution that spawned it? What would that look like? Will people delete Facebook accounts in favor of “old-fashioned” golf outings? Will tweet-ups go back to just being meet-ups? It’s hard to predict which way this counter-revolution will go, but human history indicates that the chances are good that it WILL come. Will you throw social media into the fire or will you hold on to what you have been doing for the last few years?

Kind of interesting to think about, isn’t it?

First image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefdp/456153618/ via Creative Commons

No, Mark Zuckerberg is not a Medici, at least so far as I can tell. Although that would be kind of interesting historically speaking. Factually, the Medicis built a lot of their early wealth, power, and fame on the foundation of knowing how to make people happy. Not coincidentally, they also tended to lose a lot of power and wealth when they sort of “forgot” how to make people happy. Not too dissimilar from what can happen in the online world today, right? Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Amici degli Amici

Cosimo’s son Lorenzo, who eventually became known as Lorenzo Il Magnifico (Lorenzo the Great) realized something pretty interesting. While it was important to keep other rich and powerful people happy, the less powerful people, the poor or the sort of middle class folks, had pretty powerful voices. If you could keep them happy, you could pretty much keep anyone happy. Lorenzo took to meeting with people individually, face-to-face. They would give him something – whether it was something they baked, an animal they had killed, whatever – and he would listen to their problems and try to help them out. They would leave his home happy and would remember what Lorenzo had done for them. This network came to be known as amici degli amici – friends of friends. It was an understood part of society that if someone did a favor for you, you would try to help them out when they needed something. It was also poor form to beat up a friend of a friend, so the wider the network expanded outward, the more people would be hesitant to cause the Medici family trouble. Pretty smart, right?

In the online world, there are many ways to create this kind of network. The easiest way, perhaps, is to comment on a person’s post. This shows that you are interested in what they have to say, are willing to take the time to comment on it, and aren’t just leaving a comment for your own good. It’s also a good way to know people. You can also create a network of friends online by answering questions a person might have, supporting a project of theirs, sharing their posts, or other favors that show you are interested in their success. It is understood (I think) that when someone does a favor like this for you, it is good form for you to try to return the favor some day. In the 21st century online world, this has come to be called “Give to get.”

Of course, the more you give just to get, the less you’ll actually get. Your desire to help has to be genuine. That’s the tricky part.

Too many friends!

Here’s the interesting thing about the concept of the amici degli amici. Eventually, Lorenzo got a LOT of amici. He had festival-like parties at his palace almost every night where folks like Botticelli would hang out and talk about arty things (Michelangelo would be there sometimes, too).  The more friends he got, the more people came by asking for favors. As Lorenzo became more and more entrenched in his art and culture buddies, the less involved he became in the family business. In fact, a lot of the Medici banks had to close down because they ran out of money during this time. Not surprisingly, Lorenzo started to forget some of his friends. He simply couldn’t keep up with all of the favors people were asking him for. People left empty-handed, and they left mad.

If you’ve been online for awhile, you can probably feel this problem resonating with you.

In the online world, once you are seen to be a person who supports people, “friends” start coming out of the woodwork. You get more followers. You get more blog subscribers. It’s a great problem to have, but if you get too far behind in paying people back, you are going to create a stream of really angry people who won’t be so ready to jump to your defense when you run into trouble. In fact, that’s exactly what happened to Lorenzo. As we’ll talk about tomorrow, Lorenzo’s love of art and non-traditional “Pagan” paintings earned him damnation from Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola. Indeed, Savonarola convinces Florence that they are all a bunch of sinners, and his last words to Lorenzo are that Lorenzo is headed for hell. By that time, Lorenzo doesn’t have many friends left who are ready to jump to his side.

Keep expectations realistic

Perhaps Lorenzo’s biggest mistake is that he gave the impression he could be the friend of every single person in Tuscany. He gave the impression that anyone who came to his house would get their problems solved. Promises like these are of course seldom sustainable. So it is online. It’s impossible, no matter how hard you try, to keep everyone happy. There will always be a person who feels you don’t visit their blog enough after they comment on yours. There will always be a person who will complain that you don’t reply to them as often as you should. This is inevitable, and the bigger your community grows, the more likely it is that you will tick people off.

Keep expectations as realistic as possible. Be observant, too. Try to spread out who you do favors for – if you always help one or two people you’ll be accused of clique behavior rather than social network behavior. Try to give a hand to one new person on a regular basis – daily, weekly, whatever. And make sure you do your best to let people know you’re trying your best. Don’t complain about how much it stinks to have so many people in your community. Be grateful. Just be real about it.

How do you think the amici degli amici concept is working online today? I’d love to get your input!

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelheiss/6889352598 via Creative Commons

This week we’re going to be playing it like MC Escher. We’re going to do a series within a series. I know. It’s unthinkable. It’s like crossing the streams from Ghost Busters. But I just can’t help it, gosh darn it.

The series, as you might have garnered from the title, is going to focus on the Medici family. As it happens, they have an awful lot to teach us, both good and bad. They pretty much covered the gamut from most positive characteristics to the most deplorable. But first, a brief introduction for those of you who might not know about the Medici family.

The real godfathers

The Medici family started out in Florence as a banking family. They did alright, but nothing special. The big break came when Giovanni Medici took a gamble on a pirate named Baldassare Cossa. Cossa was tired of pirating and decided that he wanted to become Pope, and in fact the Church was so messed up that he actually stood a chance. He just needed the financial backing for his campaign. The Medicis supported him all the way up the ladder, and indeed he became Pope (Pope John XXIII). In return, Cossa essentially appointed the Medicis “Papal bank.” If you hadn’t guessed, that’s a pretty good deal for a little Florentine family.

Over the course of about 200 years, the Medicis had their hands in pretty much everything that had to do with the Renaissance. They commissioned works by Donatello, they adopted Michelangelo, worked with Leonardo, and nurtured Botticelli. It was a Medici who sat in the Vatican when Martin Luther posted his theses. It was the rule of the Medicis that inspired Macchiavelli to write The Prince. The Medicis hired Galileo to tutor some of the later dukes. And in fact, it was Giorgio Vassari, a sort of PR professional for the later Medici dukes, who wrote a book encapsulating the two centuries of Medici rule as the “rebirth” or the Renaissance. Not bad, right?

You can probably see now how we can learn a lot from the exploits of this amazing family. Even so, lesson one might seem like a bit of a paradox. Be humble? In fact, Giovanni Medici preached just that to his son Cosimo.

Afford a fast car but ride a mule

Giovanni Medici became rather rich and powerful during the course of his lifetime, but if you had met him on the streets of Florence back in the 15th century, you might not have realized how well he was doing. Instead of dressing ostentatiously or making a big deal of himself, Giovanni rode around town on a mule. He did not stray far from his humble beginnings, and he advised his son, Cosimo, not to shine the light on wealth. Not all of this was about a Florentine sense of humble pie. Florence was all about family feuds. Giovanni knew that as the Medicis grew more powerful, other powerful families would take notice and would try to take them out (very Hollywood, right?). Giovanni also understood, though, that humility makes you much more attractive than a giant ego. If you’re powerful or wealthy, that will speak for itself. You don’t need to beat your own drum about it, especially if there are people around you who might not be doing so well.

Giovanni’s advice is highly relevant for the online world. He would likely chastise those people who refer to themselves as “experts” or “ninjas” or “jedis.” He would probably have a pretty big problem with something like Klout – why broadcast how much value you have on any given platform? Especially if what is being broadcast can’t necessarily be proven! He might advise you not to worry too much about things like how many followers you have, and it’s likely he would say that you probably don’t need to broadcast how many followers or subscribers you have. Float under the radar. Let your power speak for itself.

Being humble can be less fun

By the time Cosimo was coming into his own, the idea of humility was sort of passing by the wayside. Cosimo brought in Benozzo Gozzoli to paint the walls of the chapel that was within the Medici palace. The room, painted on all sides, depicts the Medici taking part in the procession of the Magi, and any friends of the family also got to be painted in. In other words, if you were hip with the Medicis, your face got on their gold-encrusted wall. Cosimo also used his great power to oversee Brunelleschi’s building of the great Basilica di  San Lorenzo dome, the symbol of all things good in Florence. He also got to be buds with Donatello. None of this really sounds too trying, does it?

But as it happens, Giovanni’s advice turned out to be pretty solid. Cosimo got powerful enough that another family, the Albizzi, had him imprisoned and were pretty intent on killing him (he was able to buy his way out and eventually raised an army that took back Florence). Had he stayed a bit off the radar, perhaps the Albizzi wouldn’t have noticed his growing power. Maybe he could have taken advantage of a moment of weakness on their parts.

In the online world, if you fly below the radar you might avoid negative attention. You might avoid negative comments on your blog. You might avoid being “called out” on Twitter. Of course, if Cosimo had been nothing but humble pie, we might not have a lot of the works that Donatello created. We might not know the name Brunelleschi. Maybe the Medicis never would have evolved to where they did.

Perhaps the best advice is not necessarily to be humble, as Giovanni suggested. Maybe the lesson is to be gracious. Be successful, but don’t gloat. Don’t rub your success in peoples’ faces.

What do you think? Do you agree with the advice Giovanni gave his son? How do you approach your own online world? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanivba/459712516/ via Creative Commons